And The Thunder Rolls,
by rebellious tendencies
Summary: James Potter was the last person Lily expected to run into when sneaking out to meet an old friend. Soon enough, however, they become stranded in a storm together. Things are said, feelings are confessed, hearts are broken. Where will they go from here?
1. And The Lightning Strikes

It was a late, cold autumn night, and Lily Evans was making her was slowly through the Forbidden Forest, cloak dragging on leaves behind her, arms crossed and shivering, and a worn-out, obviously well-read piece of parchment clutched in her fair hand. She'd never broken so many rules at once; she had snuck out after hours, was walking through the Forbidden Forest, had used a Disillusionment Charm to disguise herself, and was meeting another student. It was completely unlike her, and she didn't like it at all, but it had to be done. That morning during Charms, she'd received a note from the Slytherin table, and had by now read it so many times she had it memorized.

Lily,

I miss you. I'm so, so sorry about what I said. Won't you ever forgive me? I'll do anything to get you back. _Anything._

Meet me at the clearing in the Forbidden Forest tonight, and we can talk this over.

All my love,

Severus

She didn't know why she was going, she thought as she gritted her teeth and marched through the dirt and leaves. She could turn around, right now, and head back to her dorm. She could continue ignoring her former best friend, and live her life with her head held high. She didn't need him; not at all. He was a slimy git; everyone had been right about that. Why hadn't she listened to them? She had told Sev everything, trusted him completely, and how had he paid her back? By calling her a Mudblood. Just thinking about that moment made her blood boil. Still, she headed on, dark green eyes flashing with anger, when she suddenly ran right into something. She fell to the ground and immediately whipped out her wand, pointing it in front of her, revealing- nothing. Nobody was standing there. Then what had she run into..?

"What the..?" She gasped quietly.

"Evans?" A voice said, seemingly coming from nowhere. A dread washed over Lily. She knew that voice. And sure enough, there was a sort of ripple in the air, and a grinning black-haired figure appeared in front of her, holding a milky-looking cloak in his hand.

"P-Potter?" She said, eyes wide.

"Love, what are you doing lying on the ground?" He said, offering a hand out to help her up, which she ignored, standing up with the aid of a nearby tree.

"What are you doing in the Forbidden Forest at this hour?" She countered, glaring up at him.

"I could ask you the same thing, Miss Prefect." James said, a smirk on his face.

"What I do is none of your business, Potter!" Lily shot back.

"Sheesh. No need to get all pissy. I was just asking a question. But, since you're here, and so am I, why don't we go ahead and..." The redhead cut off his words.

"If you don't want me to hex you, I suggest you don't finish that sentence."

"Again with the pissy-ness."

A flash of lightning illuminated the woods, allowing the two to see each other clearly for a split second before they were drenched in darkness again. A distant roll of thunder sounded. "Bloody hell, Evans, are you crying?" James said, taking her face in his hands. 'Am I..?' She thought with mild surprise. She hadn't even noticed, having been too caught up in her anger. Brilliant. She couldn't have anyone, much less James Potter, see her crying, _especially_ over Severus. She had thought she'd cried her last tear over him, had cut him out of her life. _Why_ did she still care?

"No, Potter. Get your hands off of me." Lily said, jerking back slightly.

"Yes, you are." He insisted, wiping a lone tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Why are you running out here after dark, all alone, crying?"

"I'm not crying," She snapped, reaching up and slapping his hands away from her face. "It's just allergies."

"Uh-uh. I've never heard that line before."

"Oh, shut _up_!" Lily said, right as the rain broke through the forest's canopy, drenching the two in a matter of seconds, accompanied by more thunder and lightning. They both froze for a minute, registering what was happening.

"Shit!" James yelled, breaking their silence. He turned left and right, looking for a rock, a bush, something to shelter them from the full-fledged thunderstorm that was being unleashed onto them. His eyes finally landed on a cave, only about fifty feet away from where they were standing. "Come on!" He yelled above the din of the storm, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards it.

"_What?"_ Lily yelled, jerking her hand out of his.

"Do you want to get out of the storm, or not?" James yelled, just as loud. Lily paused, untrusting, until a bolt of lightning struck a tree only about a hundred yards away. She somewhat reluctantly grabbed his hand and allowed him to lead her towards the small alcove. They crawled into the small opening, one after the other, and sat on the dirt floor, lighting their wands, which gave off an eerie sort of glow.

"So, here we are. All alone. Together. In a cave, with candle- er, wandlight. Isn't that what birds consider romant-" He was, again, cut off.

"Don't even try." Lily said with a sigh. There was a silence between the two, where all that could be heard was the storm raging a few feet away from them. "What _were_ you doing in the forest?" She asked, staring at the entrance of the cave, her chin resting on her knees.

"Ladies first, Evans." James said, leaning back onto the floor. Lily paused, obviously trying to decide whether or not to tell him.

"I was meeting an old friend," she finally ventured.

"Well, who?"

"That's none of your business."

"You don't have that many ex-friends, Evans."

"Maybe that's not what I meant, Potter."

"But it was. You were meeting Snivellus, weren't you?"

"No." Lily said, not elaborating.

"I don't believe you."

"Your turn."

James paused, though probably more out of the love of drama than having an internal debate. "Causing mischief. Dreaming up ways to get myself expelled. Marauding. Showing some girls a good time. That's what you'd guess, right? Well, take your pick." He said, obviously not going to reveal his true motives.

"I pick the self-expulsion. That'd make my life a lot easier."

"Haha. Very funny, Evans."

"I'll be here all night."

"I know how to make that time pass more quickly." He was silenced by a thump on the head, courtesy of the frowning redhead.

"Enough with the cheap innuendo, okay?"

"But it's just so easy to irritate you, my love."

"I'm not your love."

"See what I mean?"

Lily huffed and didn't respond, but watched as James transfigured a medium sized rock into a candle and then lit it, with the help of his wand. Shadows flickered across the dirty cave wall behind him, sufficiently lighting the place. "So, are we just going to wait here until the storm passes?" She asked.

"Well, you've heard my idea already."

Lily scowled in response, but didn't hit him again. "What if we're stuck here all night?"

"Then you'll be forced to spend some quality time with the one guy you truly love, I suppose."

"I do _not_ love you, Potter." She said, wrinkling her nose.

"Oh, really? Then why are you blushing?" He retorted.

"I'm not. It's just your bloody candle. Low light and such." She said, feeling her cheeks grow hotter, even as she denied it.

"Sure looks like it."

"Can we just not talk for a bit?" Lily snapped, locking gazes with the annoying Marauder for the first time since entering the cave. "If I'm going to end up spending the whole night here, I'd rather you not drive me insane in the first ten minutes."

"Whatever you want, Lilyflower."

A minute or two passed in uncomfortable silence, before Lily saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly sat up straight, her eyes locked on something crawling on the wall, right above James's left shoulder. Her mouth hung open a bit in shock.

"Erm, James?" She said, tentatively. He jerked his head up, as if she'd just called him out of a deep sleep.

"You actually called me James," he said, his voice a mixture of astonishment and happiness. His trademark lopsided grin, the one that Lily hated because it drove her mad, slowly spread across his face.

"I dunno how to tell you this, but..." she began, still staring at the creature on the wall.

"Go on," he said, obviously hoping for some sudden declaration of passionate love.

"Er, don't move. At all. There's a giant... spider, right there on the wall."

He froze instantly. "That is not what I thought you were going to say," he said, slowly looking over his shoulder. "Fuck. Okay. That is a rather large spider."

And indeed it was. It had to be twice the size of Lily's hand, with long, hairy legs, multiple eyes, and rather vicious-looking things protruding from its mouth that Lily could only describe as fangs.

"Erm, Lily?" James countered. "There's a shitload more, too." He said, eyes wide with terror as masses upon masses of spiders slowly crawled out of a hole about the size of a kitchen plate about five feet away from where they were sitting. They hadn't bothered to check if the cave was occupied when they frantically dove in, searching for shelter from the rain.

"I see that," she responded, her forest green eyes widening in alarm as she took in what must surely be hundreds of terrifying tarantula-like spiders invading their cave at a horrifyingly fast rate. "Okay. We're going to run on three, both at the same time."

"Okay," James agreed.

"One."

A particularly large spider was now crawling dangerously close to James's leg.

"Two."

Lily put her hands on the floor, ready to spring up and get the hell out of there as soon as they said three.

"THREE!"

* * *

><p><strong>an: thanks for reading, guys! please take time to review & such, this is only my second story on this site, and my first multi-chapter one, at that. an update is on its way, but the exact timing of it will depend on how many hits and reviews and such i get on this one. and i haven't just forgotten poor snape out in the stormy, dangerous forest, lol. he'll come back into play soon enough, you'll see. :3**

**disclaimer: if i were JKR, i would be writing another book, not fanfiction! i own nothinggggg. sad, i know.**


	2. Another Love Goes Cold

"Okay. We're going to run on three, both at the same time."

"Okay," James agreed.

"One."

A particularly large spider was now crawling dangerously close to James's leg.

"Two."

Lily put her hands on the floor, ready to spring up and get the hell out of there as soon as they said three."

"THREE!"

Lily pushed herself off the dirty ground, and she and James both dove for the entrance to the cave. They made it out, and took off running deeper into the forest, the spiders scuttling after them. James swore loudly and pointed his wand behind him as they ran, sending a jet of blue light at the creatures, who were deterred long enough for the pair of students to run out of sight. They continued running for a few more minutes, rain pouring down on them, and narrowly escaping numerous bolts of lightning, until they came to a large clearing in the heart of the forest. The foliage high above them was so thick that it almost totally blocked the rain out, save for a few drops here and there.

The both stopped running, the danger averted. Lily clutched a stitch in her side, water dripping from her hair and clothes, and James was breathing heavily, his hands on his knees. Neither of them noticed the tall, skinny boy with long, slightly greasy hair stand up and disappear wordlessly behind a grove of trees.

"That… Was… Epic!" James managed to choke out. "Talk about an adventure!"

"Shut up," Lily said, also panting for breath, as she plopped down on the ground and laid face-up, trying to catch her breath. "What if those were poisonous? We could've died."

James followed suit, and practically fell on the leaves, lying much too close to Lily for comfort. He was literally right beside her, with no dirty forest ground in between them. A vicious-sounding rumble of thunder echoed throughout the forest, and they both turned their heads and locked gazes.

"Then I would've died happy, as long as I was with you."

Lily stifled a snicker. "Oh, and where'd you get that line from, your great uncle-"

But James would never know which great uncle she was talking about, because on an impulse, he leaned in and kissed her straight on the mouth, cutting her sentence off and hoping to Merlin that she wouldn't use too nasty of a hex on him when she pushed him away. But she didn't immediately push him away. Instead, for just a fleeting moment, Lily actually kissed him back. And it was the best kiss she'd ever had, hands-down. Too bad it was with James Potter… Wait. Her eyes fluttered open. She was kissing James Potter. She was _kissing_ James Potter. As soon as she actually realized it, she broke the kiss and shoved him off of her, punching him as hard as she could in the chest.

"What… the… _hell, _Potter?" She said, not quite yelling, but rage laced in her voice nonetheless.

He grinned sheepishly. "I think that just topped our spider run-in, as far as epic-ness goes."

Neither of them noticed the tall boy angrily stepping out from behind a tree and facing them.

"Interrupting something, am I?" His nastily malevolent voice rang out from across the clearing. Both James and Lily jumped up and whirled around, their wands already trained on the source of the voice. But as soon as Lily saw who it was, she breathed in sharply and lowered her wand.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm here. You were supposed to come here to meet me, and instead you bring that _Potter _with you?" The speaker said James's surname as one might say 'Death Eater' or 'pedophile'.

"Not so keen on seeing you either, Snivellus," James answered, his wand very much still raised, and his eyes narrowed in dislike.

Snape ignored James. "Are you _trying _to hurt me as much as you possibly can, Lily?"

The redhead opened her mouth in protest, but Snape continued on, not even giving her a chance to explain. "_Trying_ to punish me for something I've paid for time and time again? _Trying _to make me hate myself?"

"Of course n-" She began again, but he held up a hand, efficiently silencing her. She'd never, _ever_ seen him this horribly angry before, so she didn't protest.

"I thought you were coming here to make amends. I thought that maybe, just maybe, we could be friends again. But no. You came to rub your new _boyfriend _in my face." He paused, but James and Lily were both silent. "So much for all my fucking hoping that maybe, just maybe, you could forgive me. And so much for fucking _love._" Snape spat the last word through clenched teeth, and Lily physically flinched at the pain behind his words. Finished with his rant, he turned on his heel and angrily stormed off into the forest.

"Severus, wait," Lily said, but he either didn't hear or didn't care anymore. "Severus!" She said, much louder, running to the edge of the clearing where he'd disappeared. She didn't notice James following her, but he must've, because he still stood by her side. "_**Sev!**_" She screamed, loud enough to cause practically every animal within a mile radius to flee in alarm. But still, there was no answer. Severus was gone. Slowly, as if the storm knew that something tragic had just happened, drop after drop of water began to break through the forest canopy with increasing intensity, until there was a steady stream of rain pouring down on the clearing and everything in it.

James lowered his wand and wordlessly took Lily's hand.

* * *

><p><strong>an; so sorry this chapter was shorter than the last, but it has a lot more actual content. angry snape scared me a bit, even as i was writing it. that's a lot of pent-up emotion. anyways. as i'm writing this, i've had 75 visitors on this story, and one review. what the fuck? not cool, guys. i don't care if your review is five words or five hundred, anything, even critique, is immensely appreciated. so get on that. :D**

**disclaimer; lol, i don't think JKR would have sev throw an angry bitch fit like that. so i'm not her, and i own nothing. sad, i know. and the story and chapter titles are from the song "the thunder rolls" by garth brooks. i don't own that, either. xD.**


	3. On This Sleepless Night

Forty five minutes, one miserable walk, and a change of clothes for each of them later, Lily and James sat side by side in the Gryffindor Common Room, a blanet wrapped around their shoulders and a comforting fire blazing in the hearth.

James turned his head towards Lily. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," She mumbled in reply, wiping a stray tear off of her cheek.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, scooting closer to her.

"Well, it's just..." She paused, unsure of whether or not to tell James what she was thinking. He was, after all, still James Potter, and she did, after all, still hate him. One kiss and a few kind words didn't change anything between them.

...Right?

"I... I dunno what I thought was going to happen," she admitted. "I mean, I know things can't just conveniently go back to the way they used to be between Sev and I. But I think that I wanted them to do just that so badly, I wasn't being rational, and I ran into the forest on an impulse to meet him, and then there was you, and the storm, and the spiders, and everything just happened at the absolute worst time possible." Every word came tumbling out of her mouth at an alarming rate, and she looked as if she were about to start sobbing again. "A-and now there's all of this, and you're being so nice, and I j-just have no idea what the hell I'm meant to do. E-everything's just so confusing."

"Ssh, it's okay," James whispered, wrapping his arms around the bawling girl that he'd chased after for so long. He absolutley hated seeing her like this, and would give anything to see her happy again. "Everything's going to be alright," he continued as she rested her head on his chest.

Suddenly, the portrait that served as the entrance and exit to the common room creaked as it was pushed open, and a very drunk Marlene McKinnon and a very happy Sirius Black clambered through, all messy hair and grins and lopsided ties.

"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius yelled cheerfully, his arm supporting Marlene. "What're you doing up this- Oh," he said, eyes widening as he noticed Lily for the first time."_Oh!_ Look who finally came around!" He announced, either too far away or too tipsy to notice her tears. Lily quickly sat up, wiping her eyes, and wiggled out from around James' arm. "Well, I'll leave you two to it, then. Come on, Marls," He said with a wink as he and Marlene headed up the stairs, giggling about nothing in particular.

"Godric," James said as soon as the door had shut behind the two. "Sorry about him, he's way too obnoxious for his own good sometimes."

"No, it's fine," Lily said, wiping the mascara tracks off of her face. "I should go anyways, it's late..." She said, quickly standing up. Had she really just allowed James Potter of all people to comfort her? What had she been thinking?

"Are you sure?" James said, standing up, a concerned expression on his face. "I mean, I'll stay here with you, if you'd like."

"No," Lily answered quickly. "I'm fine. See you around," she said, and headed straight for the stairs to her dormitory, mentally kicking herself for acting so stupid around him.

"Okay. Good night, Lilyflower." James said as the door shut behind her. He sighed, and headed up to his own room.

Neither of them slept all night; their thoughts were too trained on the other.

**a/n: please don't kill me, you guys. i normally update things on time, i really do. i'm generally a very timely person.**  
><strong>but so much has happened since i last updated, i just spaced out on this entire site and forgot that i was currently writing a story until... well, until around an hour ago. i took my first trip out of the country, i started my sophomore year (all honors classes = no life for bella), got a boyfriend... just oh my god there aren't even words for how suckish i feel for leaving this hanging since july. please forgive me? (pretty please? with rainbow sprinkles on top?) c:<strong>  
><strong>anyways. moving on. this chapter is what i like to call, "a totally necessary and not lazy ass at all filler chapter." it might seem like i only wrote 500 and something words because i'm a bitch like that, but this chapter and its events are crucial to the overall arc of lily and james' relationship (or lack thereof), and there weren't many places i could go with it to stretch it out to 1,000+ words. so just have patience, young grasshoppahhh. the good stuff is on its way.<strong>  
><strong>love and promises of adbundant updates,<strong>  
><strong>bella.<strong>

**DISCLAIMER: nothing. i own nothing, except for a small laptop on which i write these strange fanfics. and clothes and food and textbooks and stuff like that.**


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